Prosecutors: Business owner charged in Waukegan arson, suspect in fatal Canadian fire

Ruth FullerSpecial to the Tribune

A longtime Waukegan business owner who ran for mayor and the Lake County Board has been arrested on charges that he intentionally set a fire that destroyed a local building in May.

Gregory D. Flesher, 48, of the 2500 block of Chestnut Street, appeared in bond court this afternoon on charges of arson and criminal damage to property.

Authorities allege that in the early-morning hours of May 4, Flesher used bolt cutters to enter the long-vacant former Salvation Army building at 133 S. Genesee St., and started a fire using fireworks and gasoline. No one was injured in the blaze, which took dozens of firefighters from multiple departments hours to douse, but the building was a total loss and had to be demolished.

Flesher is also being eyed as a suspect in a fatal fire in Canada that occurred on May 19. Officials in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, said Flesher has not been charged in the apartment building blaze, which killed a 48-year-old woman. But Lake County prosecutors said during Flesher’s bond hearing today that he admitted to setting that fire while he was being questioned about the Waukegan blaze.

Staff Sgt. Steve Train of the Sault St. Marie Police Service confirmed that two detectives from the department were in Waukegan today Flesher is “a person of interest” in the May 19 fire killed Leeanne Elizabeth Hill.

With regard to the Waukegan fire, Lake County Assistant State’s Attorney Steve Scheller said Flesher had earlier made inquiries about buying the block-long, 30,000-square-foot building and, after being unable to get financing, told authorities that he burned it down because he “got sick of looking at it.”

Two investigators from the Sault Ste. Marie police were present during today’s hearing, at which Flesher’s bond was set at $2.5 million. Authorities said the criminal damage to property charges stem from a separate incident in May in which Flesher allegedly placed fireworks inside of holes in the walls of another Waukegan building.

Flesher ran unsuccessfully as a write-in candidate for Lake County Board last year. In 2009, he ran as a Republican for Waukegan mayor against then-incumbent Richard Hyde and Robert Sabonjian. Flesher received just 5 percent of the vote; Sabonjian won the race.

Flesher also served for a short time on the city’s local development commission, city officials confirmed.

Flesher is the owner of Flesher Plastering, a local contractor. A man who answered the phone at the business said Flesher was unavailable.